Relief Society Choir

I have been given a great opportunity to get to sing in the choir at the General Relief Society Meeting on Sept. 27th. The Highland and Alpine stakes were chosen to put a choir together for this session of Conference. The bishops of all the wards in these stakes choose 5 people from each ward to participate in this choir. I was so lucky to be one of those 5 people in my ward to be given this chance of a lifetime.

It's interesting for me to look back at all the different places I have lived especially just the last few years and I know exactly why we were supposed to be in those places at that perticular time. When we were first given the job in Valencia, Ca. I didn't want to leave Utah because I felt we couldn't have the same quality of life in Ca. that we had in Utah. But we still went. The year we spent in Ca. is filled with the most fun memories my children and I have. We spent a lot of time together as a family going to Disneyland, the beach, whale watching, swimming and other fun things.
Then we were sent to Denver. Once again, I didn't want to go because I was really enjoying our lives in Ca. But in Denver I was able to find the most amazing preschool for Luke. Luke is our youngest and at the time was suffering with some language and developmental delays. He was terrified of being separated from me and I didn't think he would ever be able to attend preschool. I had him tested for his speech and because he qualified he was able to attend a preschool that helped with all his special needs. The women who were his teachers were amazing and both Luke and I became really close to everyone at the preschool. I know that we were supposed to be there in Denver for Luke. He is now doing so much better with his speech and loves going to Kindergarten with no problems.
After only a year in Denver we were moved once again back to Utah. Again, I did not want to move out of Colorado. We were in Utah only 6 months when Savannah was diagnosed with Juvenille Diabetes. We have been so blessed to be here in Utah where they have Primary Childrens Medical Center. This facility is so amazing and I can't even imagine going through something like these without the support of this hospital.
And now I get the opportunity to sing in the conference center during the Relief Society General Meeting. If I wasn't in Utah I would have never had an opportunity like this. Ok, I'm going to reveal a big secret of mine and that is I would love one day to be in the Tabernacle Choir. I know that is weird to some people, but it's something that has always been a dream of mine.
Anyways, back to the choir, our first practice two Sundays ago I figured we would show up and practice the songs we were going to sing. Boy was I wrong! When we arrived there they had us sign in, we sat down and warmed up our voices. Then we had one of the Stake Presidents from the Alpine Stake speak to us and he pronouced a blessing on all of us. Then one of the ladies from the Relief Society General Presidency spoke to us. We were then given a lesson on what we are to wear, when our practice times would be (if we miss one practice we are out of the choir) and then Sis. Webb got up to speak. Sis. Webb is the conductor of our choir. It's her calling to conduct all the choirs that sing in Conference, except the Tabernacle of course. She also arranged all the music we are singing. She is the most amazing women I have ever had the opportunity to meet. She doesn't just teach us our music, she inspires us every week. The first week she taught us how to connect our hearts with our faces, so that we look and express our feeling in our face that we feel in our hearts. She told us when ever we enter into a room to "add to the room, don't take anything away from it". And if we are dealing with opposition to say "Bring it on"!
I left the first practiced so inspired and ready to change my life. And the next week was even better. As soon as we started practicing our music the spirit was so strong in the room it was almost sufficating. It was hard to breath, let along sing. We had another women from the Relief Society Board talk to us and she gave this great quote "The opportunity of a lifetime rests with in the time of the opportunity".
We were told not to take offensive easily and she gave a example of how she could of easily taken offense and didn't. She was given her first assignement from Sis. Beck (the R.S. General President) and when she thought she had completed it, Sis. Beck told her "good job, now lets do it again". She has been told this three times now by Sis. Beck. She explained how she could of easily been offended by this, but she didn't and she has learned from each "try" and will continue until the assignment is done correctly.
Sis. Web read this quote from Brigham Young to us right before we left choir practice and challenged us to do what this quote asks this week in our personal lives.

"Strength the Hands of Your Fellow Beings"

If you feel evel, keep it to yourselves until you overcome that evil principle. This is what I call resisting the devil, and he flees from me.
When you are influenced by the Spirit of holiness and purity, let your light shine;but if you are tried and tempted and buffeted by Satan, keep your thoughts to yourselves-keep your mouths closed; for speaking produces fruit, either of a good or evil character.

If persons think they have greater sorrow and affliction than any others, when they reveal that sorrow and affliction, it produces fruit. You frequently hear brethren and sisters say that they feel so tired and tempted, and have so many cares, and are so buffeted, that they must give vent to their feelings; and they yield to the temptation, and deal out their unpleasant sensations to their families and neighbours. Make up your minds thoroughly, once for all, that if we have trials, the Lord has suffered them to be brought upon us, and he will give us grace to bear them; and that they do not concern our families, friends, and neighbours, we can bear them off alone. But if we have light or intelligence-that which will do good, we will impart it; but our bad feelings, our desponding feelings, our dark hours, and disagreeable sensations we will keep to ourselves. let that be the determination of every individual, for spirit begets spirit-likeness, likeness; feelings beget their likeness; and custom, custom. You know very well, by your own experience, that you are naturally inclined to more or less adopt the customs, feelings, and manners of the poeple you associate with. If, then, we give vent to all our bad feelings and disagreeable sensations, how quickly we beget the same in others, and load each other down with our troubles, and become sunk in darkness and despair! If you have anything good to say, speak it and comfort the hearts of the Saints. If you have that which tends to death, keep it to yourselves; we do not want it, for we already have plenty of it!

Frame your lives according to the precepts of the Gospel. Let your deal, walk, and conversation be that upon which an angel can look with pleasure. And in all your social communications, or whatever your associations are, let all the dark, discontented, murmuring, unhappy, miserable feelings-all the evil fruit of the mind, fall from the tree in silence and unnoticed; and so let it perish, without taking it up to present to your neighbours. But when you have joy and happiness, light and intelligence, truth and virture, offer that fruit abundantly to your neighbours, and it will do them good and so strenghthen the hands of your fellow beings.

We are given a challenge every week, and they always are something to help improve us and strengthen us. And I thought we would just be singing! This experience of being in the choir I know will change me and I'll be a better person for doing it.
And all because I moved back to Utah. Who would of guessed? Not me!

Where do I begin?

I am so far behind this week, but I'll try to catch up on everything that happened last week.
It was Cody's (3rd grade), Brittany's(8th), and Jessica's(11th) first day of school last Monday. Cody was so excited to get back to school and to see all of his "school friends" that he had not seen all summer.



Brittany loved going back to her Jr. High School and she told me her first day as an 8th grader was so much better than her first day as a 7th grader. She knew a lot more kids this year and she didn't end up eating lunch by herself, like last year.
I didn't get a chance to take a picture of Jessica before she left for school. She has to leave so early and I didn't even get a chance to see her before she took off that morning.


On Sunday Lacy and Susan (my SIL and MIL) came over for Sunday dinner. We miss having Lacy and her husband Jason over on Sunday's for dinner ever since they moved to Texas. Lacy was in town visiting the Utah crew and we were so excited to see her son Riely, who we haven't seen since he was a month old. He is now six months old. Cody loves Riely and never pass on opportunity by to hold him. He is always asking me for another baby brother (thanks Lacy), but that isn't going to be happening! I feel bad that I'm not more emotionally strong so that I could have another child. But five was my limit. Someday he'll understand that.

Cody had his first football game on Saturday. He is on the Highland Knights team. We played the Alpine Knights who are supposed to be the best team in the league. And the team that we lost to last year during the finals. When we first arrived the other team was already warming up and looked so professional, I was starting to get really worried we were going to get our bottoms kicked! But in the first quarter their teamed fumbled the ball on their 10 yard line, right when we thought they were going to score. On the next play one of our boys ran it 70 yards for our first touchdown. We scored again and at half time the score was 13-0. Cody couldn't wait to run over to me on the side lines to tell me the score. I of course reminded him that he needed to focus on the game and not on the score, but inside I was just as excited as he was. We won the game with the same score and I have to admit I was bitting my nails the entire game. It's so much more competitive than any other sports my kids have played. But it's really fun and I can't wait until next week for our next game. Cody plays both offense and defense and is almost always on the field. At first I was concerend because he was never getting a chance to rest and get water. But he told me at half time that he was having so much fun he didn't even realize he was thirsty and he never felt tired. Clay is the Defensive coach so he is allowed to be on the field with the boys. He told me that at first when he was on the field when he saw the other teams offense line up he started to get ready to tackle them and then had to remind himself that he was the coach and couldn't do that. I told him that would of made a great story on the news "235 pound coach tackles 75 pound boy".
He really is loving it and couldn't believe how much Cody reminded him of his brother Cody. He told me he even runs like Cody. I could tell Clay was on cloud nine that morning!

After the football game Kym (my SIL) and her husband Martin invited us out for a day on the lake. Now, my kids have never been water skiing before and were so excited to give it a try. Martin was so patient with all the kids and by the end of the day all the kids were wake boarding.


Even Clay had to get in on the action. Even though he is paying for it now, he is so sore!

Poor Clay, he is so big in the shoulders that none of the life vests would fit him. And yes, he is going to kill me for putting this on!
Luke was very worried about there being sharks in the lake. And it took him so time before he would really believe us and actually got in to swim. And with Clay's help he even took a spin around on the wake board.

After all the water fun Martin let the boys take over at the wheel. Kym was not happy when Martin stepped out of the way so that I could take this picture of Cody driving the boat. Yes, he really is driving right then!
We are all really happy for Kym, she is pregnant and due in January. This is her first child and it's a girl!!! Kym has been waiting so long for her prince charming and last November she finally got him and not to long after that she got pregnant. We couldn't be more happy for her and it's so great to see her so happy as well. Kym was our official flag girl and had to use her sun dress as the flag because we lost the real one. She even got out there and surfed while she is pregnant. Way to go Kym!


The thing the kids enjoyed the most was just swimming when ever we stopped the boat. We were at Utah Lake and you can tell from the pictures it's a totally gross lake. I wouldn't even get in it!

First Day of School, well at least for one of them!

Well here is my sweet Savannah on her first day of Jr. High School. Today was her first day of school but only for the 7th graders. The 8th (which is Brittany) and 9th graders will go on Monday, with everyone finally together on Tuesday. Cody and Jessica start on Monday along with Brittany, while poor Luke has to wait until the 25th to start Kindergarten.
Savannah and I were especially nervous for this first day because Savannah has Juvenile Diabetes, rather known as Type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed back in Feburary and she has learned how to manage this disease mostly all on her own. She has to test her blood sugar just before she eats, and if she starts to feel low or high. Then she gives herself injections of insulin 10-15 mins before she eats, anything. It was pretty easy for her to monitor when she was in Elementary school because her whole class knew about it and didn't mind when she whipped out her tester during class to test herself. But now that she is at the Jr. High there are less people who know about her situation and she is embarrassed to test and inject herself about those kids. Most of her teachers don't even know yet about her situation. She was concerned that the teachers wouldn't let her out of class so that she could test herself. I talked to her about how everyone would understand and I think she was a little more at ease. But this morning I could tell she was pretty nervous.
When Savannah blood sugar gets to low she starts to get shaky and really irritable. She needs to test herself immediatly and get something into her body that will shoot up her blood sugar and quickley. She carries fruit snacks around with her everywhere in case this happens. I also have a stash in my purse with me at all times and in the car. We can't be caught off guard and not be prepared. I also have to carry around an emergency shot with me everywhere in case Savannah goes unconscious or starts having a seizure. This shot is a large dose of insulin that you give a diabetic before you call 911. I keep one in my purse, in the car and in the house at all times. We also had to bring one to school to give to the nurse there, in case anything happens at school.
Here is a picture of the needle she uses everyday to give herself her injections (the one on the top)
The next needle is the emergency needle I would have to use. As you can see from the size of the needle there is a big difference between the two.


Thankfully we have never had a need for the emergency shot and hopefully never will!!
I really didn't mean to get into all this diabetes stuff but I thought you would would find it interesting.
By the way, I just started on Tuesday reading the Twilight books and I love them!!!!!!!!!!!
I have finished the first two books and am now just starting the third. I can't wait until the last one!! I can't believe I waited so long to start them, but I'm kind of glad because at least I have all four books to read and I don't have to wait for one to come out! I love Edward!!!

Wow! What a week!

It all started last Sunday while we were at Church. Of course it was during the Sacrament, when Luke came over to where Clay and I were sitting and told us his tooth was all "crazy". We didn't understand what he was trying to tell us until he pulled his bottom lip down and showed us this dangling tooth. This is Luke's first loose tooth! We tried wiggling it but Luke kept telling us to stop because he was afraid we were going to hurt him. So he quietly went back to his seat and sat there wiggling it, non-stop. After only a few minutes he was back and crying that he just wanted it out "right now"! So Clay took him into the bathroom and yanked the thing out! Luke and Clay came back into the Chapel with a bloody paper towel sticking out of Luke's mouth, but he was so excited and proud it was hard not to laugh.

The next morning Jess and I spent over two hours sitting at her High School in the counseling office waiting to meet with her couselor so we could get her schedule changed for this new school year. Jess has changed her major from Interior Design to Pediatric Nursing. All her classes she is registered for right now are for Interior Design and we need to get them changed to Nursing. It took about 45 mins after the long wait to get all her classes changed because all the ones she needs to take were already full. But we got it all worked out and she is even signed up to take two college courses her first two periods of each day. She will take them down in American Fork at this school that offers these college course to high school students and then after she is done she will head back to Lone Peak (her High School) and finish out the day there. Her college classes are medical classes she needs for her nursing degree. I can't believe I have a child taking college classes already!

Thankfully there is a guy in our ward named Tyler who is one of Jessica's best friends who is taking classes at this same place and same time as Jess. So he will drive her there in the morning and take her back to school when they are done. I don't have to worry about dropping her off and picking her up! The funny thing about her friend Tyler is that his mom grew up in Tustin which is in the same stake I grew up in. Her name is Debra Paul and her younger brother Brad Paul was friends with my brother Tom. Debra lives close by us now and the first time I met her she told me where she was from and I told her where I was from and she asked me if I knew of her brother Brad who was close to my age, and I told her how we used to hang out sometime and she just about fell over. Anyways, now are kids are good friends. Crazy how things happen!

The next day I took the kids to the Gateway Mall in SLC and we went to the Discovery Museum. It's more for Luke's age but all the kids had fun goofing around and guess what Libby, Jessica even came with us!! Here the kids are pretend to be on the news and doing the weather report.

This is a big fan that when you put different things inside like coffee filters and paper airplanes you can watch them shot up!

Here is Jessica learning how to send a signal. This is how they used to do it back in the "olden days" Or that is how Jessica put it anyways!

Of course the rock wall was popular for all the kids!

And Cody of course had to strike a pose while on the horse!
Why is it fun for kids to pump gas and not for adults?

This was really fun for the kids, they had a real life flight helocoper for the kids to sit in and it even had real sound effects and lights. Wow! I told the boys to pretend like they were the news people and this is the pose they gave me. I guess they don't watch the news very often!

This part of the museum was so much fun. They had these tubes every where and all these different ways of getting the balls threw them. This one part was a vaccum, kind of like a bank teller, when you stuck the balls in they got sucked up threw all the tubes. Luke was at this place for almost a half an hour. I need to figure out how to get one of these things in my house!

This was the constructing area where you build tall buildings. This crane is what the kids used to lift the heavy(Styrofoam) blocks to the area where all the constructions is happening!

After the Discovery Museum we headed over to the Planetarium. It didn't have as many things to do like the last museum, but it was still fun. Here the kids are taking a walk on the moon! Amazingly this part of the moon had oxygen.

Here they are on Mars. Once again this planet has oxygen and apparently a Hot Dog on a Stick. (Jess's drink)After walking around we decided we needed to sit for while so we went to one of there 3-D movies. It was about the International Space Station and they showed the shuttle taking off and how the asternaunts live up there for months. Really cool especially in 3-D
And we got to wear these awesome glasses!

After our long day we finished by going to the Olympic fountain and letting the kids cool off.

The next day was another big day for us. It started with me sitting at the Jr. High for three hours helping with registration. The PTA president of the school happens to be my good friend and neighbor, so I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time volunteering there through out the school year.

After that I came home picked up Jess and we headed to the DMV. Yes, Jessica is now a legal driver, so any of you who are driving the streets of Utah Co. Beware!!!
She only has her permit right now, so I have six months until she is on her own and stressing me out!

After the DMV we came home and changed and went and Jessica received her patriarticle blessing. It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. I'm so proud of Jess, she is a wonder daughter and sister. She has really tried hard this summer to get herself ready to receive her blessing. She attended EFY and has almost read the entire Book of Mormon, just since the first of the summer. She is a great student and is very determined to go to college and become a pediatric nurse. She also wants to travel all over the world and help children who are less fortunate and who cannot afford medical care. Her blessing promised her she would be able to do all these things.

So some of you might have mice or spiders around your house, we defiantly have those around our! But yesterday I was down in the basement and found this little guy hopping around.
Luke and Savannah of course wanted to keep him so we let them build him a house in a cooler in the garage. But today we told them they had to set him free or else he would croak! Ha Ha! So with sad hearts they walked him to the field behind our house and set him free.



Our city has this annual party called the Highland Fling, so we decided to take the kids. It started nice and early with a parade. This is a slice of Luke's face with Smokey the Bear.

I asked the kids to turn around and smile and as you can tell from this picture Savannah and Luke were not very happy that I made them do this.

After the parade we headed to the park for fun and games. They had all these different carnival type games for the kids to play and after each one they earned a ticket. When your done you take all your tickets to the prize booth that is just like Chucky-cheese's prizes (pretty much all junk) and the kids got to get their own prizes.

I loved this game, you have to throw this wet sponge and try to hit the kids who faces that are sticking out of the holes. Luke got up and there were these two sweet little girls that he had to aim for, and Luke got them both smack in the face. I told him this would be the only time he was allowed to hit a girl!

After the games we got a call from my dad and brothers who were stopping in from Cedar City and we joined them for lunch. I got my family hooked on this family owned restaurant out here named JCW's. It's got amazing burgers, sandwiches and shakes. It was fun to see them and have some time to catch up with them.